How to beat Mike Turner in OH3

I attended a small meeting of Democrats to hear Dr. MacNealy talk about his chances of a Congressional run tonight. I’ve also been looking at search results for Jane Mitakides last bid against Turner, and a bit of Charles Sanders material.

None of them have a clue at how to stand up to Mike Turner with his wonderfully smooth lines about all he’s done for the region. None of them know how to really talk about issues either.

Faulting Turner for voting Republican is like blaming the sun for daylight. He’s a Republican- that’s what they do. And talking about issues like health care, abortion, the death penalty, stem cell research are all pretty much moot points. What has to happen is the gloves have to come off and talk about the real Mike Turner vs. the puffed up one that does no wrong.

For all his claims about his saving of Dayton; Mike only has a few success stories that he can truly claim as his own, and tearing down two x-rated movie houses didn’t exactly turn our city around.

He can’t take credit for Baseball, that was started by Tony Capizzi and final negotiations were by Clay Dixon. He can’t take credit for Riverscape, which was spearheaded by Reynolds & Reynolds (and David Holmes, former CEO was Tony Capizzi’s biggest backer against Turner). He can’t take credit for lasting management, with his first pick, Bill Estabrook being run out of town in a year, and Valerie Lemmie botching her exit with a failed deal in the UK.

He failed at the basic Constitutional stuff as well. My arrest was an affront to the First Amendment (and remember, he’s a highly trained lawyer), and his dogged attempt to win cost the city many hundreds of thousands- all to possibly collect a guilty and a max of $1000 from me. He fought the civil rights legislation spearheaded by Mary Wiseman, which later passed. He was unable to work with Dean Lovelace to get anything done about predatory lending, and was asleep for 4 years in Congress while our County is one of the most foreclosed areas in the country.

He did manage to make sure that as they flatten the city, we don’t implode buildings into the basement and leave them as archaeological sites- which is great, but wouldn’t it be better to have seen investment flood back into the city and see those homes rehabbed and occupied?

His “Brownfield” legislation helped make some questionable sites become usable- however, the real question is who really benefited from this? The citizens or the former polluters? Some of those polluters are his leading supporters.

It’s quite amazing when one reads his bio of how many things he accomplished singlehandedly. I know others who would say that Rehabarama was their idea, but Turner likes taking credit for others work.

What may be the most significant statement of all as to his great accomplishments as our “Urban Mayor” is that he lost in an expensive election to a woman who can barely make a speech in public- and that he soon pulled up stakes and left his urban/historic/rehab manse for a “patio home” in a gated community in Centerville.

When he first ran for Mayor he was driving a little Dodge Shadow with a George H. Bush bumper sticker. Soon after getting elected, he was driving a Cadillac.

If anyone thinks Mike Turner is a man of the people, for the people, it’s time to take a second look. It will be interesting to see how much he nets from the sale of MTC, his former? employer, and recipient of many defense contracts since Mike ended up on the Armed Services Committee.

You don’t get millions to spend on campaigns if you don’t sell out to special interests, and that’s what Mike Turner has been most successful at. In terms of taking care of the average resident of OH-3, he’s not been that interested in your well being- not unless you are willing to send him thousands of dollars.

It’s time someone called him on the carpet for his largess at our expense. It’s time someone went to Washington and looked out for those of us struggling with how to put gas in our tank, instead of tanks of gas in Iraq.

Of all the candidates, there is no one else who has watched Mike Turner from the start, who can take his claims and cut away the window dressing. Mike Turner wasn’t Dayton’s savior, that’s just the picture he likes to paint.

Time to take the whitewash and add some Esrati style technicolor. And this is just the beginning.

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Turner also failed to broker a deal to save the Arcade, in fact he actually botched a deal with a Cleveland developer by insisiting on more retail on the upper floors when the developer told him that there was no market for that.

This was probably his biggest failure, his inability to facilitate a comprehensive revitalization of downtown, including the Arcade block, during his term. And interesting about the Holmes/Capizzi connection.

I also think its notable how Turner abandoned the city after being defeated.

Are you the guy whom I sometimes see selling Lyndon H. LaRouche literature in front of the library? If you are, I too agree that Dayton needs high-speed magnetic levitation train service between UD and the Oregon District and that, yes, Jane Fonda should be fed to the whales.

Sorry, but Papa Ubu ain’t sending you wacky mail. I, Vicount Crapentake, am Papa Ubu’s business agent, and I assure you that the only correspondence his Miserable Majesty maintians with Dayton, Ohio are his copious bids on bank foreclosed crack houses and meth labs. We simply haven’t the time to engage in frivolities when there is so much serious business to hand!

You’ve twice mentioned the “Gated Community” that Turner lives in. What is the name of that neighborhood in Centerville and, approximately, where is it located? I’m pretty familiar with the South suburbs and I’m not aware of any truly gated communities in Centerville.

One other thing that you can pick on Turner about…. The fact that his law firm was not really located in Dayton for much of the tail end of his reign as Mayor of Dayton. I understand that they maintained a skeleton office in the old Gem Savings building at 3rd & Main, but the bulk of that firms’ business was done in an office in Beavercreek. If you went to the offices in the Gem building, you were generally met by one lonely secretary.

A little friendly advice from someone on the other side of the aisle from you. Remember that much of the 3rd district is somehow tied to WPAFB and defense contractors. As such, their livlihood depends on defense spending and putting gas in tanks in Iraq. Be careful how much, or how, you denounce the war in general (even though you vehemently disagree with it) and defense spending. If you want the people that might normally vote Republican to vote for you, you shouldn’t be decrying the things that help to put food on their tables. Also remember, according to recent polls, the war is more popular than congress is right now.

40% of the civilian/military WPAFB workforce lives in Mont. Cty. That means 60% does not (I’m betting the balance are in Greene, Miami, and Clark)

So how many folks do you think that 40% is, and what % of the registered voters?

Daves job right now is reaching out to the registered Dems to win the primary. If he can position himself as a left/populist alternative he might actually have a chance, particularly with the more lefty dems.

Another nail in Miserable Mike’s resume is the total failure of the “Defensible Space” concept foisted on the 5 Oaks neighborhood with Turner’s strong support. This botched attempt at urban “renewal” has cost the city well over a Million dollars with no discernible positive impact.

You have a formidable task ahead of you, David, and, I agree, “taking off the gloves” is rationally the only way that you have even a ghost of a chance. You laid out some strong arguments about why Turner’s got to go, now let us hear your vision of what a progressive/populist congressman’s agenda is.

Stone Lake is a gated community and he lives in it. All that support of Rehabarama and Brownfields and out to a gated commune he goes. Hypocrite or a damn good chameleon. I am sorry but we are getting the elected officials we deserve. If a voter actually met some of Turner’s supporters, one would puke. I mean Sam Morgan and his ilk are GFBs and take it from me, I have met and seen their machinations. They never show up with the commoners and by all accounts are the cheapest tippers in Dayton. Bums and crooks – Buy What Dayton Builds.

I will comment on WPAFB, but the I think the GS employees are nervous and the contractors are bought off to maintain lifestyle. Argue the Defense as GDP all you want, but the military is a socialistic war machine that is being used as a private army to enhance corporate profits. I am all for defense, but the fraud, waste, abuse and stupidity is legend.

I love America for what is stands for, not what it has become. What happened to integrity? What happened to efficiency? What happened to caring for humans and the environment? What happened to the compassionate conservative?

note: after having her face cracked in iowa last night, hillary held a press conference in nashua nh this morning… she was asked if she’d ever consider plastic surgery, she said no… i don’t think she understood the question…

we all know mike and his caddy convertable… (boss hog)

lighten up on mike & tell us how you are going to work with ted & marc to correct 16 years of criminals, desperation, unemployment…

man, after disparaging dayton democrats… you got some work ahead of you…